Wireless transmission-triggered incentives driving social media engagement

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for wireless transmission-based incentives driving social media engagement are provided. An incentive structure may be stored in a database in memory regarding one or more incentives each based on a defined benchmark of social media activity. Information associated with a wireless transmission-based tag may be via a wireless transmission reader. A product/service associated with the information read from the wireless transmission-based tag may be identified. Such identified product/service may further be associated with product/service-specific information stored in a product/service database. A template for a social media communication may be provided based on the product/service-specific information associated with the identified product/service. Such social media communication based on the template may be shared with one or more social networks. Activity related to the social media communication may then be detected as having met the defined benchmark. A notification may be sent to a user device associated with the user regarding the defined benchmark having been met.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation and claims the prioritybenefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/666,845 filed Aug. 2,2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,152,733, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to social media. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to wirelesstransmission-based incentives driving social media engagement.

2. Description of the Related Art

Presently, social media engagement around a product or service may bedriven by a manufacturer, service provider, retailer, wholesaler, mailorder cataloguer, electronic commerce (e-commerce) website, and otherparties. While such engagement may generally provide accurateinformation in a timely manner, such engagement may not have the reachor influence compared to engagement by influential end-users. Suchend-users may provide inaccurate information, however, or engage in atime-delayed way. Further, many products/services (e.g., clothing,household items) are still delivered and used in a real world setting.As such, the experience of having and using such products/services maybe disconnected from the digital environment of social media.

There is, therefore, a need in the art for improved systems and methodsfor wireless transmission-based incentives driving social mediaengagement.

SUMMARY OF THE CLAIMED INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention allow methods and systems forwireless transmission-based incentives driving social media engagement.Wireless transmission technologies associated with the presentdisclosure may include any type of wireless transmission capabilityknown in the art, including, yet not limited to radio frequencyidentifiers (RFID), Bluetooth™, near field communications (NFC),iBeacon, CCD, MEMS or other wireless transmission techniques. Anincentive structure may be stored in a database in memory regarding oneor more incentives each based on a defined benchmark of social mediaactivity. Information associated with a wireless transmission-based tagmay be via a wireless transmission reader. A product/service associatedwith the information read from the wireless transmission-based tag maybe identified. Such identified product/service may further be associatedwith product/service-specific information stored in a product/servicedatabase. A template for a social media communication may be providedbased on the product/service-specific information associated with theidentified product/service. Such social media communication based on thetemplate may be shared with one or more social networks. Activityrelated to the social media communication may then be detected as havingmet the defined benchmark. A notification may be sent to a user deviceassociated with the user regarding the defined benchmark having beenmet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 illustrates a network environment in which a system for wirelesstransmission-based incentives driving social media engagement may beimplemented.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary upselling method thatmay be performed in systems for triggering wireless transmission-basedincentives driving social media engagement.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary social media method thatmay be performed in systems for triggering wireless transmission-basedincentives driving social media engagement.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary incentives method thatmay be performed in systems for triggering wireless transmission-basedincentives driving social media engagement.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary incentives database that may beperformed in systems for triggering wireless transmission-basedincentives driving social media engagement.

FIG. 6 illustrates a mobile device architecture that may be utilized toimplement the various features and processes described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention allow methods and systems forwireless transmission-based incentives driving social media engagement.An incentive structure may be stored in a database in memory regardingone or more incentives each based on a defined benchmark of social mediaactivity. Information associated with a wireless transmission-based tagmay be via a wireless transmission reader. A product/service associatedwith the information read from the wireless transmission-based tag maybe identified. Such identified product/service may further be associatedwith product/service-specific information stored in a product/servicedatabase. A template for a social media communication may be providedbased on the product/service-specific information associated with theidentified product/service. Such social media communication based on thetemplate may be shared with one or more social networks. Activityrelated to the social media communication may then be detected as havingmet the defined benchmark. A notification may be sent to a user deviceassociated with the user regarding the defined benchmark having beenmet.

FIG. 1 illustrates a network environment in which a system for wirelesstransmission-based incentives driving social media engagement may beimplemented. Such a network environment may include a communicationnetwork 110, mobile device 120 (having memory 130, upsell module 130A,network connection 140, and wireless transmission reader 150), andvarious servers 180/190, including upsell network server 180 andproduct/service manufacturer network server 190. Upsell network server180 may have a reward module 180A and a social media module 180B, whileproduct/service manufacturer network server 190 may include anincentives database 190A and a product/service database 190B. Suchservers 180/190 and databases 190A-B may be specific to a particularvoice-based service, product/service manufacturer, service provider,retailer, wholesaler, mail order catalogue, electronic commerce website,or other third party servers and databases.

Communication network 110 may be a local, proprietary network (e.g., anintranet) and/or may be a part of a larger wide-area network. Thecommunication network 110 may be a local area network (LAN), which maybe communicatively coupled to a wide area network (WAN) such as theInternet. The Internet is a broad network of interconnected computersand servers allowing for the transmission and exchange of InternetProtocol (IP) data between users connected through a network serviceprovider. Examples of network service providers are the public switchedtelephone network, a cable service provider, a provider of digitalsubscriber line (DSL) services, or a satellite service provider.Communication network 100 allows for communication between the variouscomponents of network environment.

Users may use any number of different electronic user devices 120,including general purpose computers, mobile phones, smartphones,personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computing devices (e.g.,laptop, netbook, tablets), desktop computing devices, handheld computingdevice, intelligent home device, smart speaker, or any other type ofcomputing device capable of communicating over communication network.Such user devices 120 may also be configured to access data from otherstorage media (memory 130), including local and remote databases(databases 190A-B) as may be appropriate in the case of downloadedservices. User device 120 may include standard hardware computingcomponents such as network interfaces 140 for communication over acommunication network 110, media interfaces, non-transitorycomputer-readable storage (memory 130), and processors for executinginstructions (upsell module 130A) that may be stored in memory 130.

In embodiments of the present invention, such user devices 120 mayfurther be associated with a wireless transmission-based tag reader 150capable of polling for wireless transmission-based tags 160A within arange of the wireless transmission reader 150. Upon identifying such awireless transmission-based tag 160A, the wireless transmission reader150 may further read information communicated by such wirelesstransmission-based tag 160A.

Servers 170/180/190 may include any type of server or other computingdevice as is known in the art, including standard hardware computingcomponents such as network and media interfaces, non-transitorycomputer-readable storage (memory), and processors for executinginstructions or accessing information that may be stored in memory. Thefunctionalities of multiple servers may be integrated into a singleserver. Any of the aforementioned servers (or an integrated server) maytake on certain client-side, cache, or proxy server characteristics.These characteristics may depend on the particular network placement ofthe server or certain configurations of the server.

Social media network server 170 may maintain a respective profiledatabase 170A for storing all of the posts, activities, and contacts ofeach member of the respective social media network. Social media networkserver 170 may serve as a data source regarding social media activity.Such data may be made available and mined by the reward module 180A uponthe user granting the required permissions.

The upsell network server 180 may house the reward module 180A and thesocial media module 180B. Execution of the upsell module 130A may betriggered when a wireless transmission-based tag 160A associated with apurchased product/service 160 is scanned. The wirelesstransmission-based tag 160A may contain a uniform resource locator (URL)that directs to product/service manufacturer network server 190. SuchURL may further be associated with a query for information regarding theproduct/service 160.

Information regarding the wireless transmission-tagged product/service160 may be retrieved from the relevant databases 190B for such purposesas identifying and offering related products/services. If the customerdecides to purchase the offered product/service, such product/servicemay be added to a shopping cart for processing in accordance withelectronic commercial transactions known in the art. Multiple differentrelated products/services may be offered in such fashion, whethersequentially or simultaneously.

Once the list of related ss/services is exhausted, the social mediamodule 180B may be executed to present the customer with a plurality ofdifferent actions to promote the product/service via available socialmedia networks in order to earn incentives or rewards related to therelated products/services presented. The social media offers may be madeafter the original upsell offers are made. The social media incentivecould also be presented simultaneously, such as listing the number ofsocial media incentive points the customer would need to earn alongsidethe purchase price.

The product/service manufacturer network server 190 may contain anincentives database 190A and a products/services database 190B. Theincentives database 190A may store information regarding incentivestructures related to each product/service. The products/servicesdatabase 190B may store information regarding products/services relatedto the wireless transmission-tagged product/service.

In an exemplary embodiment, a product/service 160 may be associated witha wireless transmission-based tag 160A that identifies the particularproduct/service 160 (e.g., brand, type, model). Such a wirelesstransmission-based tag 160A may be embedded or otherwise associated withthe product/service 160, product/service packaging 160, manual, or otherrelated materials. The wireless transmission-based tag 160A maycommunicate a set of information related to the product/service 160,including identifying information and one or more uniform resourcelocators (URLs) associated with the product/service 160. Each such URLmay link to one of the related servers 180/190 (and databases 190A-B)(e.g., Amazon Alexa, Google Home) that may be used to implement wirelesstransmission-based incentives.

The wireless transmission-based tag 160A information read by thewireless transmission reader 150 may trigger execution of one or moresoftware modules (e.g., upsell module 130A). Execution of such softwaremodules may result in identification of the particular product/service160 associated with the wireless transmission-based tag 160A andfurther, identification of other products/services related to thewireless transmission-tagged product/service 160. The identification ofrelated products/services may rely in part on information stored at andretrieved from remote servers 180/190 and databases 190A-B. Aproduct/service manufacturer network server 190 (e.g., associated with aretailer such as LL Bean, Nike, etc.) allow access to a database ofproducts and/or services. Such databases 190B may provide a list ofproducts and/or services related to the wireless transmission-taggedproduct/service 160. Such relationship may be identified directly by theparticular product/service manufacturer (e.g., accessories commonlypurchased with the wireless transmission-tagged product/service 160), ormay be identified from purchase histories and trends related to thewireless transmission-tagged product/service 160. The user device 120may receive one or more such lists from the remote servers 190, eachidentifying related products/services. The wireless transmission-tagged160 may therefore be identified as being related to a number of suchrelated products/services.

The social media module 180B may be prompted by the upsell module 130A.The social media module 180B may first determine if the user haspreviously granted the system access to their social media accounts. Ifthe user has not granted access to at least one account, the socialmedia module 180B may request access to the user's social media accountson social network servers 170. Provided the user grants access to atleast one of their social media accounts, the social media module 180Bmay retrieve the related product/service information from theproduct/service database 190B and the associated incentive structurefrom the incentives database 190A.

The incentives database 190A may be populated by the product/servicemanufacturer based upon their respective sales and marketing strategy.For example, the product/service manufacturer may have higher incentiveswith shorter time limits during the product/service launch in an effortto drive market penetration, and lower incentives with longer timelimits for a product/service with a more mature position in the market.

The reward module 180A may be triggered by the upsell module 130A aftercompletion of the social media module 180B in order to track thecustomer's progress towards reaching incentive milestones from socialmedia activity initiated during execution of the social media module180B. Each social media communication (e.g., posting an unboxing videoon YouTube) initiated by the customer during execution of the socialmedial module 180B, may be assigned an impact score based on a varietyof engagement activity (e.g., number of views/hits, likes, comments,retweets/reposts, shares, click-throughs) related to that communication.

The reward module 180A may calculate the activity's impact score andcompares it to the threshold established in the incentives database190A. If the impact score exceeds the incentive threshold, a rewardnotification is sent to the mobile device 120, and the inventive rewardmay be added to the shopping cart. If the activity's impact score hasnot exceeded the incentive threshold, the reward module 180A maydetermine if the time limit has expired for achieving the specifiedincentive. If the time limit has not been reached, the reward module180A may return to calculating the impact score.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary upselling method thatmay be performed in systems for triggering wireless transmission-basedincentives driving social media engagement. Execution of the upsellmodule 130A may begin when a customer scans a wirelesstransmission-based tag 160A associated with a product in step 205. Thewireless transmission-based tag 160A may contain a URL specified by themanufacturer that is specific to the tagged product/service 160, as wellas data from the product/service database 190B regarding relatedproducts/services related to the product/service 160 specified by thewireless transmission-based tag 160A.

In step 215, information may be retrieved from the database regardingthe tagged product/service 160 and in step 220, offered to the customerto purchase. If the customer decides to purchase the offeredproduct/service in step 225, the item is added to the customer'sshopping cart in step 230. Additional related products/services may beidentified in step 235 and offered in step 240. Once the list of relatedproduct/service and/or services from the product/service and/or servicesdatabase is exhausted, the social media module 180B may be executed instep 245 to present the customer with a plurality of social mediaactions they can take to promote their purchase via available socialmedia networks in order to earn rewards. In this embodiment the socialmedia offers may be made after the original upsell offers are made. Thesocial media incentive could also be presented simultaneously, such aslisting the number of social media incentive points the customer wouldneed to earn alongside the purchase price. The rewards module 180A maythen be executed in step 250, and the method may then end 260

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary social media method thatmay be performed in systems for triggering wireless transmission-basedincentives driving social media engagement. The social media module 180Bis prompted by the upsell module 130A in step 305. The social mediamodule 180B first determines if the user has previously granted thesystem access to their social media accounts in step 310. If it has notbeen granted access to at least one account, the social media module180B may request access to the user's social media accounts in step 315.If the user does not grant access to at least one account the socialmedia module 180B returns to the upsell module 130A in step 325.Provided the user grants access to at least one of their social mediaaccounts, the social media module 180B retrieves the relatedproduct/service information from the product/service database 190B instep 330 and the associated incentive structure from the incentivesdatabase 190A in step 335.

The incentive structure for each related product and/or service is thendisplayed on the mobile device in step 340. For example, the userpurchased a pair of boots and the manufacturer is offeringweatherproofing spray ($15.99), laces ($6.99), and polish ($9.99) asrelated products and/or services for upsell. This is a new boot designfor the manufacturer so they are offering $1 per social media rewardpoint earned with more points earned for creating a YouTube video thanother social media platforms because their marketing research indicatesthat YouTube has more customers in their target demographic for theseboots than Twitter or Facebook. The user selects which social mediaplatform they want to share their purchase in step 345. This launches awindow that is formatted for the social media platform with information(e.g., links, images) related to the product/service. The user has theability to customize the messaging and imaging/video before posting instep 350. The user can repeat this process across multiple social mediaplatforms in step 355. When the user has finished, the social mediamodule 180B may return to the upsell module 130A.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary incentives method thatmay be performed in systems for triggering wireless transmission-basedincentives driving social media engagement. In step 410, the rewardmodule 180A may be triggered by the upsell module 130A after completionof the social media module 180B in order to track the customer'sprogress towards reaching incentive milestones from social mediaactivity initiated during the social media module 180B. Each socialmedia activity the customer initiated during the social medial module isscored for its impact in step 420. In step 430, the reward module 180Acalculates the activity's impact score and compares it to the thresholdestablished by in the incentives database 190A. If the impact scoreexceeds the incentive threshold, a reward notification is sent to thecustomer in step 440, and the inventive reward is added to the shoppingcart in step 450. If the activity's impact score has not exceeded theincentive threshold, the reward module 180A determines if the time limithas expired for achieving the specified incentive in step 460. If thetime limit has not been reached, the reward module 180A returns tocalculating the impact score. If the time limit has been reached, thereward module 180A returns to the upsell module 130A in step 470.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary incentives database 190A that may beperformed in systems for triggering wireless transmission-basedincentives driving social media engagement. The incentives database 190Ahas a table for each user, in this example user number 123. Each row inthe database represents one type of social media activity, such a likes,favorites, shares, comments, views, etc. Each social media platform,such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, SnapChat, etc., has threecolumns. The first is the count of the social media activity for thatrow, such as “likes”. The second column is the multiplier for thisactivity, that is multiplied by the count to get the impact score. Forexample, 10 likes on Facebook with a multiplier of 0.5 yields an impactscore for that activity on that social media platform of 5. Themultiplier may be the key variable determined by the product and/orservice manufacturer based upon their desired social media marketingcampaign. For example, the multipliers in this table are fairly high forFacebook activities. The product/service manufacturer in this examplevalues the person to person recommendation that is achievable viaFacebook more than other social media platforms. User #123 in thisexample posted an unboxing video that had greater impact than theirFacebook activity. The impact score for each social media platform istotaled below.

Below the total impact score are the impact score thresholds at whichUser #123 may earn different rewards. In this example, reward 1 if thefirst upsell item offered from the products and/or services database,reward 2 is the second upsell item and reward 3 is the third. In thisexample the rewards are a pass fail system in which user #123 eitherearns the product and/or service reward or not, but the system couldalso be configured to have impact score translate to a certain dollaramount towards a rewards purchase price. Ideally, the method ofcalculating the impact score and the reward thresholds are visible tothe user so they are incentivized to drive the impact score up bypromoting the message. In this example, User #123 did not earn anyrewards from their Twitter of Facebook activity, due to no activity anda low impact score respectively, while he did earn both reward 1 andreward 2 from his unboxing video on YouTube. The impact scorecalculation can include other variables, such as follower count, thatare not shown here.

FIG. 6 illustrates a mobile device architecture that may be utilized toimplement the various features and processes described herein.Architecture 600 can be implemented in any number of portable devicesincluding but not limited to smart phones, electronic tablets, andgaming devices. Architecture 600 as illustrated in FIG. 6 includesmemory interface 602, processors 604, and peripheral interface 606.Memory interface 602, processors 604 and peripherals interface 606 canbe separate components or can be integrated as a part of one or moreintegrated circuits. The various components can be coupled by one ormore communication buses or signal lines.

Processors 604 as illustrated in FIG. 6 is meant to be inclusive of dataprocessors, image processors, central processing unit, or any variety ofmulti-core processing devices. Any variety of sensors, external devices,and external subsystems can be coupled to peripherals interface 606 tofacilitate any number of functionalities within the architecture 600 ofthe exemplar mobile device. For example, motion sensor 610, light sensor612, and proximity sensor 614 can be coupled to peripherals interface606 to facilitate orientation, lighting, and proximity functions of themobile device. For example, light sensor 612 could be utilized tofacilitate adjusting the brightness of touch surface 646. Motion sensor610, which could be exemplified in the context of an accelerometer orgyroscope, could be utilized to detect movement and orientation of themobile device. Display objects or media could then be presentedaccording to a detected orientation (e.g., portrait or landscape).

Other sensors could be coupled to peripherals interface 606, such as atemperature sensor, a biometric sensor, or other sensing device tofacilitate corresponding functionalities. Location processor 615 (e.g.,a global positioning transceiver) can be coupled to peripheralsinterface 606 to allow for generation of geo-location data therebyfacilitating geo-positioning. An electronic magnetometer 616 such as anintegrated circuit chip could in turn be connected to peripheralsinterface 606 to provide data related to the direction of true magneticNorth whereby the mobile device could enjoy compass or directionalfunctionality. Camera subsystem 620 and an optical sensor 622 such as acharged coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor (CMOS) optical sensor can facilitate camera functions suchas recording photographs and video clips.

Communication functionality can be facilitated through one or morecommunication subsystems 624, which may include one or more wirelesscommunication subsystems. Wireless communication subsystems 624 caninclude 802.x or Bluetooth transceivers as well as optical transceiverssuch as infrared. Wired communication system can include a port devicesuch as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port or some other wired portconnection that can be used to establish a wired coupling to othercomputing devices such as network access devices, personal computers,printers, displays, or other processing devices capable of receiving ortransmitting data. The specific design and implementation ofcommunication subsystem 624 may depend on the communication network ormedium over which the device is intended to operate. For example, adevice may include wireless communication subsystem designed to operateover a global system for mobile communications (GSM) network, a GPRSnetwork, an enhanced data GSM environment (EDGE) network, 802.xcommunication networks, code division multiple access (CDMA) networks,or Bluetooth networks. Communication subsystem 624 may include hostingprotocols such that the device may be configured as a base station forother wireless devices. Communication subsystems can also allow thedevice to synchronize with a host device using one or more protocolssuch as TCP/IP, HTTP, or UDP.

Audio subsystem 626 can be coupled to a speaker 628 and one or moremicrophones 630 to facilitate voice-enabled functions. These functionsmight include voice recognition, voice replication, or digitalrecording. Audio subsystem 626 in conjunction may also encompasstraditional telephony functions.

I/O subsystem 640 may include touch controller 642 and/or other inputcontroller(s) 644. Touch controller 642 can be coupled to a touchsurface 646. Touch surface 646 and touch controller 642 may detectcontact and movement or break thereof using any of a number of touchsensitivity technologies, including but not limited to capacitive,resistive, infrared, or surface acoustic wave technologies. Otherproximity sensor arrays or elements for determining one or more pointsof contact with touch surface 646 may likewise be utilized. In oneimplementation, touch surface 646 can display virtual or soft buttonsand a virtual keyboard, which can be used as an input/output device bythe user.

Other input controllers 644 can be coupled to other input/controldevices 648 such as one or more buttons, rocker switches, thumb-wheels,infrared ports, USB ports, and/or a pointer device such as a stylus. Theone or more buttons (not shown) can include an up/down button for volumecontrol of speaker 628 and/or microphone 630. In some implementations,device 600 can include the functionality of an audio and/or videoplayback or recording device and may include a pin connector fortethering to other devices.

Memory interface 602 can be coupled to memory 650. Memory 650 caninclude high-speed random access memory or non-volatile memory such asmagnetic disk storage devices, optical storage devices, or flash memory.Memory 650 can store operating system 652, such as Darwin, RTXC, LINUX,UNIX, OS 6, ANDROID, WINDOWS, or an embedded operating system such asVxWorks. Operating system 652 may include instructions for handlingbasic system services and for performing hardware dependent tasks. Insome implementations, operating system 652 can include a kernel.

Memory 650 may also store communication instructions 654 to facilitatecommunicating with other mobile computing devices or servers.Communication instructions 654 can also be used to select an operationalmode or communication medium for use by the device based on a geographiclocation, which could be obtained by the GPS/Navigation instructions668. Memory 650 may include graphical user interface instructions 656 tofacilitate graphic user interface processing such as the generation ofan interface; sensor processing instructions 658 to facilitatesensor-related processing and functions; phone instructions 660 tofacilitate phone-related processes and functions; electronic messaginginstructions 662 to facilitate electronic-messaging related processesand functions; web browsing instructions 664 to facilitate webbrowsing-related processes and functions; media processing instructions666 to facilitate media processing-related processes and functions;GPS/Navigation instructions 668 to facilitate GPS and navigation-relatedprocesses, camera instructions 670 to facilitate camera-relatedprocesses and functions; and instructions 672 for any other applicationthat may be operating on or in conjunction with the mobile computingdevice. Memory 650 may also store other software instructions forfacilitating other processes, features and applications, such asapplications related to navigation, social networking, location-basedservices or map displays.

Each of the above identified instructions and applications cancorrespond to a set of instructions for performing one or more functionsdescribed above. These instructions need not be implemented as separatesoftware programs, procedures, or modules. Memory 650 can includeadditional or fewer instructions. Furthermore, various functions of themobile device may be implemented in hardware and/or in software,including in one or more signal processing and/or application specificintegrated circuits.

Certain features may be implemented in a computer system that includes aback-end component, such as a data server, that includes a middlewarecomponent, such as an application server or an Internet server, or thatincludes a front-end component, such as a client computer having agraphical user interface or an Internet browser, or any combination ofthe foregoing. The components of the system can be connected by any formor medium of digital data communication such as a communication network.Some examples of communication networks include LAN, WAN and thecomputers and networks forming the Internet. The computer system caninclude clients and servers. A client and server are generally remotefrom each other and typically interact through a network. Therelationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programsrunning on the respective computers and having a client-serverrelationship to each other.

One or more features or steps of the disclosed embodiments may beimplemented using an API that can define on or more parameters that arepassed between a calling application and other software code such as anoperating system, library routine, function that provides a service,that provides data, or that performs an operation or a computation. TheAPI can be implemented as one or more calls in program code that send orreceive one or more parameters through a parameter list or otherstructure based on a call convention defined in an API specificationdocument. A parameter can be a constant, a key, a data structure, anobject, an object class, a variable, a data type, a pointer, an array, alist, or another call. API calls and parameters can be implemented inany programming language. The programming language can define thevocabulary and calling convention that a programmer may employ to accessfunctions supporting the API. In some implementations, an API call canreport to an application the capabilities of a device running theapplication, such as input capability, output capability, processingcapability, power capability, and communications capability.

The present invention may be implemented in an application that may beoperable using a variety of devices. Non-transitory computer-readablestorage media refer to any medium or media that participate in providinginstructions to a central processing unit (CPU) for execution. Suchmedia can take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatileand volatile media such as optical or magnetic disks and dynamic memory,respectively. Common forms of non-transitory computer-readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk,magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM disk, digital videodisk (DVD), any other optical medium, RAM, PROM, EPROM, a FLASHEPROM,and any other memory chip or cartridge.

Various forms of transmission media may be involved in carrying one ormore sequences of one or more instructions to a CPU for execution. A buscarries the data to system RAM, from which a CPU retrieves and executesthe instructions. The instructions received by system RAM can optionallybe stored on a fixed disk either before or after execution by a CPU.Various forms of storage may likewise be implemented as well as thenecessary network interfaces and network topologies to implement thesame.

The foregoing detailed description of the technology has been presentedfor purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the technology to the precise form disclosed.Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteaching. The described embodiments were chosen in order to best explainthe principles of the technology, its practical application, and toenable others skilled in the art to utilize the technology in variousembodiments and with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of thetechnology be defined by the claim.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for incentivizing data distributionbetween computing devices, the method comprising: receiving taginformation at a server sent from a user device after the user devicescanned a tag associated with a product or service; identifying at theserver that a social media account associated with the user deviceincludes permission to take actions via the associated social mediaaccount; sending an offer from the server to the user device based onthe received tag information and the permission, the offer specifying areward for taking one or more actions related to promoting the productor service; receiving information that identifies that the user devicehas taken a first promotional action via the associated social mediaaccount; identifying that the user device has provided an authorizationto share a promotional message via a second social media accountassociated with the user device; generating an activity score based onthe first promotional action and the authorization to share thepromotional message; and sending a communication from the server to theuser device indicating that the reward has been earned based on thegenerated activity score, wherein the reward is provided after thesending of the communication.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising receiving one or more social media activity metrics from asocial media platform associated with the second social media account,the social media activity metrics measuring a number of communicationsreceived in response to the shared promotional message.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, further comprising: storing in a database an identifierassociated with the user device; and updating the database to includethe one or more social media activity metrics in association with theuser device.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating asecond score associated with at least one action taken by the userdevice, wherein calculating the second score is based on a number offollowers associated with the at least one action taken by the userdevice.
 5. The method of claim 3, further comprising: retrieving the oneor more social media activity metrics from the database; and identifyingthat the activity score has met a reward threshold, wherein thecommunication that the reward has been earned is based on theidentification that the activity score meets the reward threshold. 6.The method of claim 2, wherein the number of communications includes atleast one of a number of views, a number of comments, a number ofshares, or a number of likes associated with the message.
 7. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereona program executable by a processor of a server for implementing amethod for incentivizing data distribution between computing devices,the method comprising: receiving tag information at the server from auser device after the user device scanned a tag associated with aproduct or service; identifying at the server that a social mediaaccount associated with the user device includes permission to takeactions via the associated social media account; sending an offer fromthe server to the user device based on the received tag information andthe permission, the offer specifying a reward for taking one or moreactions related to promoting the product or; receiving information thatidentifies that the user device has taken a first promotional action viathe associated social media account; identifying that the user devicehas provided an authorization to share a promotional message via asecond social media account associated with the user device; generatingan activity score based on the first promotional action and theauthorization to share the promotional message; and sending acommunication from the server to the user device indicating that thatthe reward has been earned based on the generated activity score,wherein the reward is provided after the sending of the communication.8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, theprogram further executable to receive one or more social media activitymetrics from a social media platform associated with the second socialmedia account, the social media activity metrics measuring a number ofcommunications received in response to the shared promotional message.9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, theprogram further executable to store in a database an identifierassociated with the user device; and update the database to include theone or more social media activity metrics in association with the userdevice.
 10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim7, the program further executable to calculate a second score associatedwith at least one action taken by the user device, wherein calculatingthe second score is based on a number of followers associated with theat least one action taken by the user device via the associated socialmedia account.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumof claim 10, the program further executable to: retrieve the one or moresocial media activity metrics from the database; and identify that theactivity score has met a reward threshold, wherein the communicationthat the reward has been earned is based on the identification that theactivity score meets the reward threshold.
 12. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the number ofcommunications includes to at least one of a number of views, a numberof comments, a number of shares, or a number of likes associated withthe message.
 13. An apparatus for implementing a method forincentivizing data distribution between computing devices, the apparatuscomprising: a memory of a server; and a processor of a server thatexecutes instructions out of the memory to: process tag informationreceived from a user device after the user device scanned a tag, the tagassociated with a product or service, identify that a social mediaaccount associated with the user device includes permission to takeactions via the associated social media account, prepare an offer tosend to the user device based on the received tag information and thepermission, the offer specifying a reward for taking one or more actionsrelated to promoting the product or service, wherein the prepared offeris sent to the user device, identify that the user device has taken afirst promotional action via the associated social media account,identify that the user device has provided an authorization to share apromotional message via a second social media account associated withthe user device, generate an activity score based on the firstpromotional action and the authorization to share the promotionalmessage; and prepare a communication to be sent to the user deviceindicating that the reward has been earned based on the generatedactivity score, wherein the communication is sent to the user device andthe reward is provided after the sending of the communication.
 14. Theapparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor executes furtherinstructions to receive one or more social media activity metrics from asocial media platform associated with the second social media account,the social media activity metrics measuring a number of communicationsreceived in response to the shared promotional message.
 15. Theapparatus of claim 14, the processor executes further instructions outof the memory to: store in a database an identifier associated with theuser device, and update the database to include the one or more socialmedia activity metrics in association with the user device.
 16. Theapparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor executes furtherinstructions out of the memory to calculate a second score associatedwith at least one action taken by the user device, wherein calculatingthe second score is based on a number of followers associated with theat least one action taken by the user device.
 17. The apparatus of claim15, the processor executes further instructions out of the memory to:retrieve the one or more social media activity metrics from thedatabase; and identify that the activity score has met a rewardthreshold, wherein the communication that the reward has been earned isbased on the identification that the activity score meets the rewardthreshold.